(Jewish Group) For 'Rabbi On The Block,' the street is her pulpit

Three years ago, the feature-length documentary “They Ain’t Ready For Me” told the story of Chicago anti-violence advocate Tamar Manasseh.

At an hour and 29 minutes, it apparently wasn’t long enough. This summer, that film’s director, Brad Rothschild, featured her in a second bio-doc, “Rabbi On The Block.” Are they headed to a trilogy or reality series?

“Yes to both. While we were making the first film, it became clear we still had more to say,” Rothschild said in a joint interview with Manasseh.

One area needing elaboration, both filmmaker and subject agreed, was about her Jewish identity.

“When we were doing Q&As at screenings, no matter how many times we said, “Please don’t ask Tamar about how it is that she’s Jewish,” people were still curious. We tried to explain it in the first film but we didn’t explain it well enough apparently.”

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